Froley snorted. “I’d know. Ol’ Gormund may think the docks are his, but…” They clicked their tongue, then looked at Calya, their face grave once more. “He’s trouble. Avenor. He’s got the mayor and the dockmaster in his pocket, too.”
“Who can we trust around here?” Lowe asked.
“Leave my people out of whatever you’re here to do. The locals. They got to live here after you go back to your Valley.”
“I won’t cause you or your town any trouble I can’t fix,” Lowe promised.
Froley’s smile held more pity than anything else. “One Sentinel against the Coalition’s pockets. I don’t like your odds.”
“The Coalition’s days here are numbered,” Calya said through gritted teeth. “Brint Avenor’s been playing with fire and getting away with it for too long.”
Froley gave her an appraising look. “Zhenny mentioned you were determined.”
“Ambitious. Reckless, even.” Calya glanced at Lowe before grinning darkly at Froley. “If you can trust one thing about me, it’s that Helm Naval is mine, and I am so fucking tired of Brint and the Coalition getting in my way. I’m not leaving this place until I’m satisfied.”
Froley’s delighted cackle rent the air. “I like your spirit. Maybe not your chances, but I’ll back you as I can.” They nodded at Lowe. “Luck to you ranger, keeping up.”
“Don’t I know it,” he grumbled.
Further conversation was interrupted by the door opening and Eunny, Ollas, and Zhenya trudging in. They joined Calya’s table, Eunny pouring the last of the tea into Calya’s cup and draining it in one go.
“I’ll get us more drinks,” Ollas said, heading for the counter.
“Where have you been?” Calya asked.
“What’s wrong at the village?” Froley said at the same time.
Eunny’s golden brown skin was sallow. She laid her arms on the table to cushion her head, mumbling, “Zhen?”
“They’re sick,” Zhenya said quietly. “Eunny’s been imbuing infusions all day.”
Lowe’s face drew tight. “The Eyllic poison?”
Zhenya chewed on her lip, her eyes pinching shut for a moment before she shook her head. “No. But there are similarities.” Worry tinged her words. “We’re going to take our healing tea back tonight and see if it can help.”
Ollas returned with a fresh pot of tea and biscuits and gave Eunny’s shoulder a gentle shake. “Eat, love.”
“What did you find?” Zhenya asked.
Calya gave an abbreviated version of their adventure, omitting her intention to search Brint’s room. Her friends had enough on their plates without adding undue anxiety over her plans. Finally, she showed Ollas the dirt sample they’d taken from the site. The gardener examined it closely, calling up a small golden spark that flickered twice at his fingertip before it went out.
Ollas held the fabric scrap out to Zhenya, who did her own quick assessment, her magic remaining a steady glow as she passed her hand over the dirt.
“It feels kind of like the corrupted soil in Rhell,” she said. “Not the same, though. It is contaminated, but it feels different. Not as aggressive.”
Froley’s shoulders relaxed. Slightly.
“We’ve got to send word to Ezzyn,” Ollas said. “He has the most experience with it, if it is related at all to what’s in Rhell. We need them back here.”
“Write fast,” Froley said, eyeing a clock hanging on the wall behind the bakery’s counter. “If you can get it to the dock before the hour, I’ve a boat that’ll take it.”
“We’ll deliver it,” Calya said when Eunny started to rise. “You need to rest, and we’re not as useful as you lot are to a sick village.”
Maybe Lowe could be, but Calya selfishly didn’t want him to leave. Given the way he’d been hovering around her, she liked to think he wouldn’t want to be separated, either.
With a hastily penned letter in hand, they hurried down to the dock in search of Froley’s fastest messenger boat. Lowe had to sprint down the dock to catch it before it left, but they managed.
“How long do you think it’ll take to reach Anadae?” Calya asked him as they watched the dark horizon swallow up the boat. It was an impossible question, she knew it, but worry and hope were clawing their way up her chest, wrestling and trampling each other in turn. She didn’t like it, how helpless she felt. This was why she didn’t let herself care about things she couldn’t control.
